China Pakistan Economic Corridor

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is an ambitious project of $ 46 billion dollar. A 3,000-kilometer network of roads, railways and pipelines to transport oil and gas from southern Pakistan's Gwadar Port to Kashgar city, northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Part of this corridor will pass through Gilgit Baltistan, which does not fall within the ambit of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Since 1947, the region has been treated as a disputed territory. It is part and parcel of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

In this backdrop, a high level committee was formed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, which is contemplating to elevate the constitutional status of Gilgit Baltistan in a bid to provide legal cover to the multi-billion-dollar Chinese investment plan.

The move signals a historic shift in the country’s position on the future of the wider Kashmir-Issue.

The proposal would see the mountainous region of Gilgit Baltistan, for the first time in the country’s constitution, bringing it one step closer to being fully absorbed as an additional province.

Pakistan has historically insisted the parts of Kashmir it controls are semi-autonomous and has not formally integrated them into the country, in line with its position that a referendum should be carried out across the whole of the region

In addition to being named in the constitution, Gilgit Baltistan would also send two lawmakers to sit in the federal parliament - though they would be given observer status only.

The primary reason for Pakistan seems to stem from domestic and international requirements of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. Outside the sharing of Indus Waters, no other issue has created such a divide between the federation and the provinces, as the $ 46 billion CPEC has managed. Other provinces like Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have been up in arms against the Corridor, for these three provinces see the province of Punjab as trying to usurp their genuine demands and requirements.

China’s concerns and Pakistan’s illegal actions

It is important for China that Gilgit Baltistan has a political status within Pakistan. From Beijing’s point, a political status for Gilgit Baltistan would address the domestic concerns of the local people from being exploited by Islamabad, and externally the Indian objections.

Hence, Pakistan’s move to illegally annex Gilgit Baltistan, change the demographics of the actual Kashmir-issue and cement China’s stake in this dispute are in response to concerns raised by Beijing. China cannot afford to invest billions of dollars on a road that passes through a disputed territory claimed both by India and Pakistan.

The actions of Pakistan totally negate the interests of the people of Jammu & Kashmir and their future while jeopardizing any kind of solution to this long standing conflict.

If Pakistan imposes its sovereign writ over Gilgit-Baltistan, India will then have a political and moral right to fully integrate Jammu & Kashmir into India and scrap Article 370 of its constitution, which gives Jammu & Kashmir a special status.

Concerns of the local population

The corridor plans have been strongly criticized people living in Gilgit Baltistan and the rest of Jammu & Kashmir.

The region is completely excluded from the high financial profits that a project such as the CPEC would bring, despite the fact that this corridor would cross the region, producing a number of negative impacts such as smoke and environmental pollution.

The much-publicised China-Pakistan Economic Corridor may benefit many, but it will render more than 10,000 people of Gilgit Baltistan jobless once the existing dry port is relocated from Sost in Gilgit Baltistan to Havelian in Hazara division of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

There is no industry in the whole of Gilgit Baltistan and more than 10,000 people are associated with the Sost dry port including businessmen, transporters, hoteliers and other people, whose livelihood is directly and indirectly linked with the port.

The people of Gilgit Baltistan are concerned about their future as the federal government has not given any concrete assurance for establishing economic zones in the region to compensate the people.

According to the local population and International observers, the region is deprived of all fundamental human and civil rights and it has no representation in the National Assembly of Pakistan or any other national legislative body. From day one, the federal government of Pakistan has never bothered to invite Gilgit Baltistan officials to any national level meeting on the construction of this corridor.

The local population and International observers have claimed, with substantial evidence, that China is busy digging more than 22 tunnels in Gilgit Baltistan for deployment of missiles, while other areas are explored for natural resources. The local owners of these lands have been barred from going to these areas.

Since Gilgit Baltistan has no say in CPEC projects, there is no one to safeguard its people’s rights.

Environmental Issues

The economic potential of Gilgit Baltistan is such, that had the people been masters of their own destiny and not treated as a colony by Pakistan, Gilgit Baltistan could finance the complete construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor itself. There is an abundance of water resources, minerals worth billions of dollars and an ocean of undiscovered tourism potential in this part of Jammu & Kashmir.

There are at least 5000 glaciers, including three of the largest in the world outside of the polar regions, in Gilgit Baltistan. It has almost 2500 glacial lakes. The potential of Power is 52.000 MW, while the requirement of the indigenous population is just 150 MW.

Gilgit Baltistan and its ecological habitat will also be effected negatively by the construction of this corridor. Researchers have concluded that the current rise of temperature will dry up the glaciers in the Karakorum and Himalayan region within a century. The toxic gasses and heavy traffic flow related to the construction of this corridor will only enhance the melting of the world’s largest reservoir of fresh water glaciers.

The factories which will emerge during the construction of this corridor will use all the minerals of Gilgit Baltistan as raw material for which the population will not be paid any royalty.

APPEAL

The construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor is by all means, illegal. Gilgit Baltistan is part of Jammu & Kashmir State, the future status of which still needs to be decided according to the wishes of the people living in Jammu, Ladakh, the Kashmir Valley, Pakistan Administered Kashmir and indeed, Gilgit Baltistan.

The construction of this corridor, complimented by the military benefits for both China and Pakistan and an investment of 46 billion dollars, has all the ingredients to exacerbate the complexities of the Kashmir-Issue, threaten peace and cement China’s stake in Jammu & Kashmir.

Any kind of solution to the long standing Kashmir-Issue will only be jeopardized by these kind of intrusions. China is not investing billions of dollars to simply withdraw if any solution is found to the Kashmir Issue. Its investment guarantees its strategic interests in the region.

The people in Gilgit Baltistan are not in need of economic corridors of exploitation. They are longing for basic human rights and their political liberties. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor is an attempt to further destabilize the region in general and the Kashmir-Issue in particular.

The people of Jammu & Kashmir appeal to you to sign for justice.

They appeal to you to sign against the exploitation of Gilgit Baltistan. Against the human rights violations in Gilgit Baltistan. Against the proposed annexation of Gilgit Baltistan by Pakistan.

Sign for Justice! Sign to support the people of Jammu & Kashmir in deciding their own future!

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